Two Minute Torah Podcast

Va'etchanan 5768 by Michelle Samuels

Shabbat Shalom. This is Michelle Samuels, KOACH Field Worker.

For many of us, college is a chance to explore our identities. We ask ourselves who we want to become, what career we want to pursue, and the kind of person we are hoping to spend our life with. But, there's another question that we as Jews have to ask ourselves: How does college fit into my Jewish Journey, the development of my Jewish identity? In parshat Va'etchanan, we find Moses just short of entering Eretz Yisrael. Moses tells the people of Israel of his pleading with G-d to enter the land, of G-d's guidelines for our lives, His commandments and His teachings. Moses reminds us that we are commanded to pass on the memory of the receiving of the Ten Commandments, of the exodus from Egypt, and that G-d is the only G-d and we must remember Him always. He warns us that if we forget, we will be sent into exile and our numbers will diminish. That we must not assimilate and we need to preserve our heritage.

Now, here we are in the 21st century. And what has happened? We have assimilated.

There was a little while there where we tried and couldn't: no country club memberships and higher education just at our fingertips, but now…we have no problem getting that diploma and what college student needs a country club membership anyway, even if you can get one?

In Va'etchanan, Moses reminds us that we must pass on our heritage, generation to generation. Most of us don't think about what this means until it is our turn to pass on our heritage. But what about those of us who have yet to have the next generation to pass that knowledge onto? Moses reminds the people of Israel, that would be us, to take our experiences with us. To keep them as part of our identities. But in a place where we have forgotten, how do we remember? For me, it was all about joining that Jewish sorority, participating in KOACH and other Hillel events and programming, taking Jewish studies classes, and learning Hebrew (too bad the Yiddish classes conflicted with just about everything). L'Dor V'Dor doesn't just mean telling your children about traditions and our heritage, but about experiencing our traditions and heritage in order to pass it on through action, more than just words.

Va'etchanan reminds us that we must not forget where we came from, that we need to take our experiences with us, incorporate them into our daily lives, and live Jewishly.